7-31-2015

        Good Morning All!!

           1 John 4:19; “We love because he first loved us.”

    It is one of the more provocative questions that are asked.  Why did God put the tree of good and evil in the garden?  Why would God have placed a tree which would serve to be the downfall of mankind into sin right where Adam and Eve would eat it?  Now at this point the questions tend to diverge.  The doubters tend to go toward that if God was truly all knowing he would have known the outcome and avoided it.  So God putting the tree into the garden shows God is not all knowing.  The believers are simply looking for an answer.  What makes this so difficult is that Scriptures does not give us a definitive answer.  You never read the phrase, “Because it was the thing to do.”  Or “This is why I did this, says the Lord.”  We are left to trust and we are left to rely on God.  Yet, I think, therein is the answer.

    Sin caused the greatest break in our relationship with God that could have possibly occurred.  We went from loving God to hating God.  We went from loving one another to not caring about one another.  We went from caring for all of God’s creation to despising it and seeing it as for our own gain.  The break was complete and our hatred of God grew.  To a logical person, God would have wiped everything out and started over but he never did.  He always kept a remnant, a seed, of what he created and he kept this remnant because he loved them.  God always loved us.

    Throughout the Old Testament, God showed his love by forgiving, restoring, returning and sustaining; even as man hated him.  As we look through all of Scriptures, we see God’s love pouring out upon us.  We see it in the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, the Son of God, for us even when we were haters, liars and cheaters.  He did this out of love for us and in this event we see love in its purest form.

   It is this love, poured out on us that allows us to truly love.  We see love in its purest form; we experience it and we are able to love others with a shadow of the love that God has for us.  In all that God has done for us, we see love.  This love is shown in its entirety in that it is poured out on us even when we do not deserve it.  God’s love is given to us with no strings, with no requirements.  All we need to do is surrender to this love; cease fighting against his love.  All we need to do is to stop rebelling against God and his love.

    So now as we live in his love, we now are able to live in the relationships which he has created for us.  We are now restored as his children.  We are the heirs to God’s eternal kingdom, blessed by the Father because of his love.  We can now share this love with those around us.

Father, in your great love and mercy you have made us your children.  Your love redeems us and keeps us in your holy family.  Teach us to love as you love.  Teach us to bring peace and harmony wherever we go.  Lead us to share your everlasting love with those around us who are beaten and broken down.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret